When is a press release not a press release?

The term "press release" is a whopper of a misnomer. The public communication we call a "press release" hasn't simply been a message to the media for a long time.

Now, though, the web makes the term virtually meaningless. So many different people and audiences other than the media can access our press releases in real time that calling it a press release is almost a blunder. [If someone's got a better phrase, let me know]

So if reaching many different audiences is now both a given and an objective of our releases, what do we need to know to make the most of the opportunity?

This, in a nutshell, is what we will be talking about on Wednesday at 1 PM ET on the PR University audio conference, "New Ways PR Can Use SEO and Smarter Writing Techniques to Reach Wider Audiences."

I'll be moderating and will be joined on the call by:

• Paul Furiga, ABC, President, WordWrite Communications


• Laura Sturaitis, Senior Vice President, Media Services & Product Strategy, Business Wire


• Paul Dyer, eMedia Director, WeissComm Partners, Invigorate Communications


• Greg Jarboe, President & Co-Founder, SEO-PR

We'll be covering these and other topics:

• SEO Fundamentals: How to conduct preliminary keyword research—plus online tools and new techniques for finding your company or brand’s keyword sweet spot


• Word counts, hyperlinks, headline writing rules and other SEO guidelines for optimizing press release copy without alienating readers


• Using video, audio, photos and multimedia to boost your online footprint


• SMR Update: What a social media news release (SMR) is and how it differs from a traditional press release


• Overcoming the challenges of creating and distributing effective social media news releases


• Online Distribution: How to seed your releases, announcements and ideas in blogs, forums and even Facebook, LinkedIn and beyond


• Measuring your success: new tools for measuring the effectiveness of your press releases

Hope you can join us!